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Bad idea?
Too …. Splitty?


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Use birch plywood instead, it will never split.

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Peter Havriluk

I normally use mahogany . The spruce question is because of weight. I’m all for lightening the instrument if possible , at least something like a block


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I use a spruce tail block around half an inch thick with an inch wide, about an eighth inch thick cross piece going across the grain from the top to the bottom of the guitar. It makes for a lighter guitar. I’ve never had an issue with it.

I've been using spruce tail blocks on guitars and octave mandolins. No problems.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Spruce sounds fine. I think what is needed is some crossgrain split prevention, so that a bump on the endpin doesn't split the tailblock and the sides.

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Peter Havriluk

I use spruce mostly cause I’ve got boxes of it left from the old days. Technically a cross grain lam would be a good idea, but I’ve never had a problem. Grain direction perpendicular to the sides. I don’t use tapered end pins.

Spruce glued cross grain to the sides as Ed does it is probably O.K., still I prefer 1/2 inch "Baltic birch" plywood as Peter mentioned. You never know how people will drill into end blocks and what devices will be installed in them.
I have seen a number of guitars with split end blocks and long splits in both sides, where they were likely dropped on their end pin.
I know saving a few grams here and there can add up to a lighter instrument over all, but that might be possible to do by making the end block slightly narrower and slightly thinner, or laying up a cross ply of spruce (might be something to do with off cuts or tops that don't make the grade )

I have repaired quite a few split tail blocks and a fair amount of split sides to go with them. As a result, for my builds I also use 1/2" baltic birch for tail blocks. It's light and it will never split.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

You could always lay up some cross grain laminations of the spruce and make lightweight plywood of yer own

I'm curious, what's you thought on why you want to remove weight from the tail block?

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Spruce was used on the head and tail block of Selmer guitars.

It's all in how you design, it's perfect suitable in the right design.

I guess it’s more of a mass / weight thing.
My reasoning is I don’t see why I need weight or superfluous weight and mass in that particular position. It isn’t moving the top or contributing to the sound in any way I can think of.
It seems to my teeny brain that removing mass like extra tail block material can only contribute to a more responsive guitar all around.

Then again I could be horribly misguided


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I have heard that some people add mass to the tail block to help offset the neck heaviness and make the guitar balance better..
There are so many contradictory schools of thought you can build a guitar however you want and find justifications for doing it that way - and it will probably still sound like a guitar.

I do know that mass in areas definitely changes the sound and movement of the thing. That said, although it would be cool for a guitar to balance at a certain point I’ve never had one in my lap and thought..,, wow this feels weird because it’s not balanced.
I have had guitars in my lap and thought, “this sounds dead”, or “I can’t feel the guitar move when it’s against me”…

Also I do take a certain joy when someone picks up one of my guitars and they say… wow this is light… not sure why… fortunately they like how it sounds too haha

Don’t get me wrong, cutting ounces isn’t an obsession I have … I just find it interesting how mass affects things in different ways

Still learning


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Thanks for the reply to my question. I asked because I don't think of tail block material having an impact on making a responsive guitar. I mostly think of the components that move and have contact with the strings. I consider the tail block a structural element and have used mahogany, baltic birch and probably a few other things too. Sometimes I'll make a thin tail block and laminate a cross grain piece of something to it to help prevent spitting.
As a side note; I have a friend that has a guitar with a mass loaded peghead and it was unbalanced to hold. Fortunately this guitar has a trap door in the tail block and it was simple for him to add some weight to the tail block and balance it out. Sounds great by the way.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Using a skew cut block would give it the most splitting resistance. Avoid flat cut, with the ring lines parallel to the plane of the sides; that's the most likely to split. I've always run the gain of the block across the sides.

I like willow for end blocks, as it has much more split resistance than spruce, but about the same density.

I make cross laminated spruce head and end blocks using top material that isn't good enough for tops. I have some that came as packing material, and some other tops I ended up with one way or another. It probably doesn't make a significant weight difference but the simple task of making the plywood is kind of soothing. It lightens my mood.

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Tim Allen
"Never hurry, never rest."

We can do things as amateur (aka unpaid) builders that don't get done when the meter's running.

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Peter Havriluk